


Between the Sea and the Shore

by misura



Category: Coastlines (2002)
Genre: Getting Together, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-03
Updated: 2018-11-03
Packaged: 2019-08-22 05:13:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,448
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16591478
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misura/pseuds/misura
Summary: Dave figures some things out, and then he fixes them.





	Between the Sea and the Shore

**Author's Note:**

  * For [alchemise](https://archiveofourown.org/users/alchemise/gifts).



"You know, Fred's still alive, he's gonna come back," Sonny said a propos of nothing.

Dave'd been thinking the same thing, more or less. He'd also been telling himself that just because they hadn't found a body, didn't mean the slippery son of a bitch was still alive.

"Let him," he said. "Between the two of us, we can handle Fred, same as we handled Eddie."

"That right?" Sonny asked. He still looked like he'd been through hell, which was fair enough.

"That's right," Dave said.

Sonny looked at him. "Thought you were a man of the law now, Dave. You know, doing things by the book. Following the rules. Dotting all the Is and crossing all the Ts."

"Yeah, well, we both know you're an idiot, aren't you?" Dave said, mostly good-naturedly.

 

Truth was, he'd do it for Sonny. Not the whole truth, perhaps, which was that Fred had gotten away with breaking the law any which way for years, with nobody, Dave included, lifting a finger because Fred was a slippery bastard that way, with a personal hitman in his left pocket and a hot-shot lawyer in his right.

_Your best friend's been screwing your wife, and she'd been loving it._

Justice was a funny thing, Dave reckoned. Like God and women, it worked in mysterious ways.

Leaving Eddie Vance to die hadn't troubled his conscience overly much. Dave figured that he wouldn't be shedding any tears over Fred, either.

Sonny and Sonny's friendship and Ann and Ann's love now, on the other hand.

 

"You're kidding me," Ann said. "We threw him a house-warming party, Dave. I mean, Jesus."

"House-warming party doesn't make it a home," Dave said. He'd thought about things long enough to have made up his mind, and now he was going to see it through.

Ann gave him a long look. She'd taken down some of the pictures - the ones with him and her and Sonny on them, from way back when. The good old days, before Sonny'd gone to prison and come back the same as he'd always been. A little dangerous and a little unpredictable and a lot of trouble.

"It's a good idea, Ann," Dave said. "Fact, I thought you'd like it. Lots easier to screw a guy when he's living in the same house." He hadn't meant to get that crude, he thought. He was one of the good guys, a nice and reasonable guy. An authority figure.

One of those fine folks who'd stood by and watched while the Vances built themselves a criminal kingdom bit by bit, life by life. It'd taken Sonny to put a stop to all that.

"Is that what this is about? You and Sonny?"

Dave opened his mouth and closed it again. He hadn't meant it quite like that, he didn't think. He was a married man. He'd never felt any particular attraction to men - except that Sonny was Sonny.

"Oh my God. It is, isn't it?" Ann laughed. She didn't sound happy. Dave wondered if Sonny was able to make her laugh like she was happy. He probably was. "And you didn't even know until I told you. God, Dave. That's just so you."

Dave didn't know that there was anything to say to that. At least the argument was over.

He'd sort out all the rest later, he figured. With Sonny there to help or, more likely, add fuel to the fire simply by being there, doing nothing, causing trouble just by breathing, because that was what Sonny did.

 

"Me and Ann," Sonny said.

They'd taken Dave's car, all of Sonny's earthly possessions loaded in the trunk. He'd left the lava lamp Effie'd gotten him 'just in case'. (Dave hadn't asked in which case that'd be.)

"Don't want to know, don't care," Dave said.

"Liar." Sonny sounded more resigned than accusing. "You love her." A pause. "Pretty sure she loves you back. That's good, right? That's something you should want to know. Something you should care about."

Dave wondered if Sonny and Ann talked about him in bed. Had talked about him in bed.

_Your best friend's been screwing your wife, and she's been loving it._

"I love Ann," he said. "And you, too, turns out. That's something, huh?"

He'd watched Sonny in the mirror, looking for a sign of anything. Surprise, maybe. Disgust, though Dave didn't think Sonny was the type to hold a man's feelings against him.

Zilch. Nada.

"Sure is, Dave," Sonny said, turning to look out of the window.

 

Once Sonny was there, things got easier. Dave wouldn't have expected it, except that he had, because he knew Sonny and he knew Ann, and between the two of them, they'd always managed to make things easy for him.

They weren't too obvious about when they were having sex, only sometimes Ann wouldn't come to bed and Dave'd lie awake, thinking thoughts that would turn to fantasies that left him feeling faintly guilty, as if fantasizing about his best friend screwing his wife was somehow worse than screwing someone else's wife or someone's best friend. Maybe it was.

Ann seemed happy. Sonny seemed Sonny. He only looked a little bit like he'd been dragged through hell and back again nowadays, which had to be a good sign.

Dave wasn't quite sure what he was feeling, some of the time. He wasn't miserable. He wasn't feeling like a failure, the way he had when the Vances had ruled the marina. He liked his job again.

He came home, and Sonny'd be there, and Ann'd be there, and he'd look at the two of them and think to himself that he was happy, that a man couldn't ask for more than this, and then he'd spend another night lying awake, palms sweaty as he imagined what Ann would look like, with Sonny going down on her, what they'd say to each other, and sooner or later, he'd come with that image in his head.

It was very possible that one of these days, he was going to do or say something stupid to mess it all up.

 

His chance came pretty soon after, with Ann in the house, putting the girls to bed, and him and Sonny still there, sipping their beer.

"Remember what I told you in the car?" Dave said. It bothered him, he supposed, not knowing how Sonny felt about it, in the same way it was probably going to bother him if the way Sonny felt about it turned out to be 'indifferent'.

"You told me a lot of things in a number of cars, Dave." Sonny looked at him, sipping his beer. "But for argument's sake, let's say I do."

Dave considered. He knew what he wanted to ask, but any which way you spun it, it was kind of a rude thing to ask, even of someone screwing your wife. Perhaps especially of someone screwing your wife.

Sonny sighed. "Just spit it out, Dave. Jesus. We're best friends. Whatever it is, I can take it."

_How about me?_ Dave thought, but that'd be a bit too much on the nose, besides of which, he reckoned he'd be as happy being the one to do the taking, or whatever the right term was for that sort of thing. "Why are you screwing my wife but not me? What, you don't like guys?" It would be the most logical explanation. Also the most inconvenient one, of course.

"Overall, I'd say I like guys just fine. Prefer girls, most of the time," Sonny said.

"Right," Dave said. Well, he'd tried. Time to go to bed and have himself a nice heterosexual porn fantasy. He got up, a little bit unsteady, a tiny bit disappointed, but eh. He'd get over it.

"Dave," Sonny said. His hand was on Dave's back, pretty low.

Dave's mouth felt dry. He'd been in love with Ann for a long time. He'd spent years sleeping with her in the same bed. He'd never gotten bored with her or imagined he'd want anyone the way he wanted her, and now here he was.

"Come to bed with me?" Sonny asked, as if it was as easy, as simple as that.

"Ann," Dave started, not sure what he was asking, or doing, or going to do.

"Ann will understand. Like you did. Can't make it fairer than that now, can you?" Sonny said.

Put like that, Dave supposed he couldn't.

 

Breakfast was awkward, right until the moment Sonny casually noted that their two-person bed looked big enough for three, which Dave hadn't even given much thought to himself, but all things considered, he didn't feel like he was in any position to argue.


End file.
